Special Report: Police provide updates on synagogue shooting

Pittsburgh synagogue suspect identified as Robert Bowers

Synagogue shooting suspect targeted Jews online

Pittsburgh Shooting: At least 11 people dead in synagogue shooting

Pittsburg shooting suspect was avid user of social network Gab

Trump visit stirs debate; massacre defendant in court

By ALLEN G. BREED, MARK SCOLFORO and MARYCLAIRE DALE

This undated Pennsylvania Department of Transportation photo shows Robert Bowers, the suspect in the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation via AP)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The man charged in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre was brought into court in a wheelchair Monday, as some members of the Jewish community and others objected to President Donald Trump’s plans to visit, accusing him of contributing to a toxic political climate in the U.S. that might have led to the bloodshed.

With the first funerals set for Tuesday, the White House announced that Trump and first lady Melania Trump will visit the same day to “express the support of the American people and to grieve with the Pittsburgh community” over the 11 congregants killed Saturday in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

Some Pittsburghers urged Trump to stay away.

“His language has encouraged hatred and fear of immigrants, which is part of the reason why these people were killed,” said Marianne Novy, 73, a retired college English professor who lives in the city’s Squirrel Hill section, the historic Jewish neighborhood where the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue took place.

Meanwhile, the alleged gunman, 46-year-old truck driver Robert Gregory Bowers, was released from the hospital where he was treated for wounds suffered in a gun battle with police. Hours later he was wheeled into a downtown federal courtroom in handcuffs to face charges.

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers vowed to rebuild following a weekend massacre at his Pittsburgh synagogue where Robert Gregory Bowers is accused of killing 11 people in what is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. (Oct. 29)

A judge ordered him held without bail for a preliminary hearing on Thursday, when prosecutors will outline their case. He did not enter a plea.

During the brief proceeding, Bowers talked with two court-appointed lawyers and said little more than “Yes” in a soft voice a few times in response to routine questions from the judge. Courtroom deputies freed one of his cuffed hands so he could sign paperwork.

He was expressionless.

“It was not the face of villainy that I thought we’d see,” said Jon Pushinsky, a congregant who was in court for the hearing.

Federal prosecutors are pressing for the death penalty against Bowers, who authorities say expressed hatred of Jews during the attack and later told police, “I just want to kill Jews” and “All these Jews need to die.”

After the hearing, U.S. Attorney Scott Brady called the shootings “horrific acts of violence” and added: “Rest assured we have a team of prosecutors working hard to ensure that justice is done.”

The weekend massacre — which took place 10 days before the midterm elections — heightened tensions around the country, coming just a day after the arrest of the Florida man accused of sending a wave of pipe bombs to Trump critics.

The mail bomb attacks and the bloodshed in Pittsburgh set off debate over whether the corrosive political atmosphere in Washington and beyond contributed to the violence and whether Trump himself bears any blame because of his combative language.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, a Democrat, said the White House should contact the victims’ families and ask them if they want the president to come. He also warned Trump to stay away when the first funerals are held.

“If the president is looking to come to Pittsburgh, I would ask that he not do so while we are burying the dead,” Peduto said. “Our attention and our focus is going to be on them, and we don’t have public safety that we can take away from what is needed in order to do both.”

The White House did not immediately respond to the mayor’s request. Asked if Trump has done enough to condemn white nationalism, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said he has “denounced racism, hatred and bigotry in all forms on a number of occasions.”

Some looked forward to the president’s visit.

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said that Trump is “certainly welcome.”

“I am a citizen. He is my president,” Myers told CNN.

But Barry Werber, 76, who hid in a dark storage closet as the gunman rampaged through the synagogue, said he doesn’t want Trump to come to Pittsburgh. He said Trump is trying to “instigate his base,” and “bigots are coming out of the woodwork.”

Kristin Wessell, a homemaker who lives near Squirrel Hill, also said Trump should steer clear of Pittsburgh, to let the victims’ families “grieve how they see fit.”

“I feel a lot of his comments are very much dog whistles to nationalists and white supremacists and racists. So, yeah, I do place part of the blame on this on him,” said Wessell, a Democrat, who was passing out bouquets to passersby across the street from a kosher grocery store. “Anti-Semitism has always existed. But I feel like he is giving cover to people to be more blatant about it. And to be more violent about it, rather than trying to calm and heal.”

The youngest of the 11 dead was 54, the oldest 97. The toll included a husband and wife, professors, dentists and physicians.

Bowers was charged with offenses that included causing death while obstructing a person’s right to the free exercise of religion — a hate crime — and using a gun to commit murder. He was also charged under state law with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.

The president of the hospital where a wounded Bowers was taken said that he was ranting against Jews even as Jewish staff members were treating him.

“He’s taken into my hospital and he’s shouting, ‘I want to kill all the Jews!’ and the first three people who are taking care of him are Jewish,” Jeffrey Cohen of Allegheny General Hospital told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” ″Ain’t that a kick in the pants?”

Cohen, who is also Jewish and a member of Tree of Life synagogue, said he stopped by Bowers’ room.

“I just asked how he was doing, was he in pain, and he said no, he was fine,” Cohen said. “He asked who I was, and I said, ‘I’m Dr. Cohen, the president of the hospital,’ and I turned around and left.”

He said the FBI agent outside Bowers’ room told him he didn’t think he could have done that. “And I said, ‘If you were in my shoes I’m sure you could have,’” Cohen said.

Just minutes before the synagogue attack, Bowers apparently took to social media to rage against HIAS, a Jewish organization that resettles refugees under contract with the U.S. government.

“HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people,” he is believed to have written on Gab.com, a social media site favored by right-wing extremists. “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

HIAS had recently weighed in on the migrant caravan heading toward the U.S. from Central America, urging the Trump administration to “provide all asylum seekers the opportunity to present their claims as required by law.” The president has vilified the caravan and pledged to stop the migrants.

One of the targets of the mail bomb attacks last week was liberal Jewish philanthropist George Soros, who has been accused by far-right conspiracy theorists of paying migrants to join the caravan.

Bowers was a long-haul trucker who worked for himself, authorities said. Little else was known about the suspect, who had no apparent criminal record.

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This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of “Pushinsky” and “Jeffrey” and to show Jeffrey Cohen’s comments were made to “Good Morning America,” not WTAE-TV.

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Associated Press reporters Claudia Lauer and Kristen de Groot contributed to this report from Philadelphia.

Violence casts cloud week before midterms

A string of violent incidents has cast a pall over the final weeks of a midterm season already marked by months of bitter partisan fighting, vitriolic rhetoric and angry protests.

A week that began with President Trump spreading unfounded claims at a rally in Houston about Democrats and a caravan of migrants ended with arrests in a spate of attempted bombings against prominent Democrats and the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the country’s history.

Both episodes were met with calls for unity from Democrats and Republicans alike, but neither party indicated they would cede an inch in the debate over responsibility for the attacks.

Marc Hetherington, a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, expressed skepticism that the rhetoric will cool in the last full week of the campaign, even as the country remains on edge.

“I don’t think anything’s going to cool tensions,” he said in an interview with The Hill. “This, on both sides, has the feel of the apocalypse if they lose.”

The chairmen of both parties’ campaign arms in the House appeared jointly on a pair of Sunday talk shows, where they delivered a message of unity.

“We should come together as a country. This should not be a political response, but rather a response at how we can further bring us together,” Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

His Republican counterpart, Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), expressed confidence that the midterm elections would not prove to be an obstacle in efforts to unify the country.

Even as they spoke of bipartisanship, the two men regularly slipped in jabs about the other party’s campaign operation and questioned whether their opponent’s tactics were “sleazy” or “racist.”

The back-and-forth was reflective of a national conversation in recent days where politicians have alternately called for an easing of political hostilities while quickly blaming the other side for stoking them in the first place.

At the center of it all has been Trump, who struck a unifying tone in the immediate aftermath of the attempted bombings while also questioning its timing.

“Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows — news not talking about politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans go out and vote!” Trump tweeted on Friday, as authorities closed in on a suspect in the spate of attempted bombings.

Authorities eventually charged Cesar Sayoc Jr. with addressing more than a dozen explosive devices to high-profile Democrats, including former President Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary Clintonand Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), among others. CNN’s New York City offices were also targeted.

The next day, Robert Bowers was arrested after police said he opened fire in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 people and wounding six.

Democrats have seized on both incidents to draw attention to the consequences of extreme rhetoric, invoking Trump in the process.

“Honestly, I think this president’s whole modus operandi is to divide us,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “He gets up in the morning with new and inventive ways to divide us. And it’s not enough that on the day of a tragedy he says the right words if, every day of the year, he’s saying things to bring us into conflict with each other.”

Republicans, meanwhile, have been quick to downplay the connection between the president’s over-the-top rhetoric and the men responsible for last week’s violence.

“Look, everyone has their own style, and frankly, people on both sides of the aisle use strong language about our political differences, but I just don’t think you can connect it to threats or acts of violence,” Vice President Pence told NBC News in an interview aired Sunday.

“And I don’t think the American people connect it,” Pence added. “The American people believe that those who are responsible are the people that actually conduct these threats.”

George Selim, senior vice president of programs at the Anti-Defamation League, said the campaign rhetoric has reached a “tipping point.”

“The rhetoric has really reached a tipping point that’s gone beyond political divisiveness into acts of cold and callous murder and intent to harm,” he told The Hill.

Democrats campaigning across the country have largely implicated both sides as they walk a tenuous line between using the events for messaging without being seen as politicizing a tragedy.

Gun-control activists have shown less hesitation to draw a direct line between Saturday’s shooting and the upcoming midterm elections.

“Americans believe that gun safety is a priority and we expect them to be taking that issue into the voting booth with them,” John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, told The Hill. “Certainly what happened in Pittsburgh is one more stark reminder, the fact that gun safety isn’t the left or right issue, it’s a life or death issue.”

Everytown spent $30 million total on the midterm elections, Feinblatt noted.

Hetherington, the UNC professor, said issues of gun violence and Trump’s rhetoric are likely to be fresh in voters’ minds for the midterms, particularly since early voting has already begun in many states.

“We have a new framing in a sense for the election,” he said, pointing to two issues — Trump’s divisive rhetoric and gun violence — that have once again become urgent topics in the news. “And it’s on grounds that Democrats benefit from.”

Despite calls for him to cool his overheated rhetoric after the deadly synagogue shooting and pipe bomb mailings, President Trump on Monday continued his assault on the news media by once again branding them as the “Enemy of the People” and accusing them of stoking rage.

“There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly,” he wrote to his more than 55 million Twitter followers. .

“That will do much to put out the flame of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony. Fake News Must End!,” the president posted, just two days after 11 people were gunned down by a man yelling “all Jews must die” at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

The tweets also come three days after Cesar Sayoc was arrested for sending 14 pipe bombs through the postal system to CNN and a number of prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, his Vice President Joe Biden, and Trump’s 2016 presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton — all outspoken critics of Trump’s.

A number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers made the rounds of the Sunday news shows to call for unity and encourage the president to tamp down his name-calling and attacks on the media.

After Monday’s tweet, more politicians weighed in.

Sen. Chris Murphy encouraged people to send Trump a message next Tuesday by voting in the midterm elections.

“This is, for all practical purposes, a call for more violence against the press. My god….what is happening???,” the Connecticut Democrat wrote on Twitter.

“History offers numerous examples of social & political movements built primarily on tapping into & stoking anger. To varying degrees they had some early success, but none of them ended well,” Rubio said on Twitter. “And many of them caused great suffering & tragedy on the way down.”

Republican Rep. Ryan Costello said there are many things “shaking up the hornet’s nest” and Trump’s comments are among them – especially for Democrats.

“In the grand scheme of things if you were to subsequently ask me, ‘Does he quell or exacerbate?’ I would say he oftentimes exacerbates,” Costello of Pennsylvania said during a panel hosted by Politico.

Jim Sciutto, a reporter for CNN – which was a target of several of the pipe bombs, including another suspicious package found Monday that was intended for its Atlanta headquarters – said he and other journalists are just doing their jobs.

“Mr. President @realDonaldTrump I watched my team escorted out of our NY HQ five days ago as the NYPD isolated a bomb in our building. We reported the facts, as we always do,” he posted on Twitter. “We are not fake news. We are journalists doing our jobs as best we can every day.”

Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway said the president is “trying to heal the country.”

“The president’s not trying to reach his base by denouncing anti-Semitism and asking everybody to rise above hate, he’s being the president of all Americans,” she said on CNN.

Trump condemned the synagogue shooting as “pure evil.”

“There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in America or for any form of religious or racial hatred or prejudice,” he said during a rally Saturday in Illinois.

Trump: “The media has been extremely unfair to me and the Republican party”

The gunman who opened fire on a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday morning, killing at least 11 people and injuring several others, has been named as 46-year-old Robert Bowers, a Trump-hating antisemite who regularly complained on social media about the president and ‘the infestation of Jews.’

Bowers opened fire at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh shortly before 10am. The synagogue was busier than usual with Sabbath services and because of a baby naming ceremony that had also been scheduled.

After opening fire on the congregation with three handguns and an AR-15, he was confronted by two Pittsburgh police officers who had been called to the scene as he tried to leave the building. Police say Bowers returned fire, injuring both of the cops, then retreated inside and ran to the third floor to hide.

He then engaged in a gun battle with a SWAT team and injured two of them before being shot multiple times himself and surrendering.

He is still alive, in a stable condition, and is in the hospital under the watch of police.

None of the victims have been named. Police revealed on Saturday afternoon that all of those killed were adults and that no children were harmed.

Robert Bowers, 46, has been identified as the suspected gunman who opened fire on a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday. He is pictured, left, in his Gab profile picture and right in his driver’s license picture

An hour before the first reports emerged of the shooting, Bowers posted this on the social media website Gab. He was enraged by HIAS, the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society which helps Jewish migrants settle in the US, and said he couldn’t ‘sit by’ and watch ‘my people get slaughtered’

Among his antisemitic comments on the social network Gab are complaints about President Trump

Bowers also shared photographs of his Glock collection on the website. He used several handguns and an AR-15 in the attack. Right, his cover photo included the white supremacist number 1488

Police vehicles are deployed near the vicinity of the home of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect Robert Bowers’ home in Baldwin

More emergency vehicles are seen blocking the road near Bowers’ home in Baldwin on Saturday

Baldwin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area

The six people injured include a 70-year-old man who is undergoing surgery for multiple gunshot wounds and a 61-year-old woman who is expected to survive.

Three of the four cops are likely to survive but a fourth, a 55-year-old law enforcement officer, is in a critical condition.

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Paramedics race to get a victim from Saturday’s shooting to the hospital outside the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh

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Jewish residents who live near the synagogue are pictured outside after the shooting. At least 11 are dead and others are injured

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Members of the community gather outside the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, on Saturday morning after an antisemitic gunman opened fire, murdering at least 11 and injuring several others

Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, who was likely leading the Sabbath service, is pictured after escaping from the gunman on Saturday morning

EMTs work at the scene of a mass shooting on Saturday morning at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue. At least 11 people are dead and more are injured

Kate Rothstein (left) looks on as Tammy Hepps and Simone Rosthein hug outside the synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Saturday

The entire incident, from when he entered the synagogue to when he was removed, lasted 20 minutes.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Saturday that the federal government plans to file hate crimes and other charges against the alleged gunman – which carry the maximum penalty of death.

The synagogue was particularly busy because of the special ceremony planned. There are mixed reports that it was a bris, the Jewish ceremony which involves an infant’s circumcision, but there were children in the synagogue at the time.

Little is known about him but he made no attempt to conceal his antisemitism on the social media website Gab, beloved by users because it promises never to censor them or hinder their free speech.

In response to the shooting, the online payment giant PayPal announced that it has banned Gab, according to The Verge.

Gab responded by releasing a statement on Medium condemning the shooting while denying that it encourages terrorism or violence.

‘Gab.com’s policy on terrorism and violence have always been very clear: we a have zero tolerance for it,’ the company said.

‘Gab unequivocally disavows and condemns all acts of terrorism and violence.’

Apple refuses to host Gab in its iOS store while Google banned the app from its Google Play store for violating the company’s hate speech policy.

A post made on the site’s Twitter account on Saturday appeared to revel in the attention prompted by the killings, saying ‘We have been getting 1 million hits an hour all day.’

Bowers had an active gun license and has bought six firearms since 1996.

Police are preparing to search his home in Baldwin, Pennsylvania.

An hour before he arrived at the synagogue and started shooting on Saturday, Bowers, posted this chilling message on the site: ‘I’m going in.’

Denise Fulton cries as she speaks with Bishop David Zubick at the scene of the mass shooting on Saturday

A woman holds a candle during a vigil in Squirrel Hill on Saturday to remember those that died in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting earlier in the day

Deb Polk holds a sign as she gathers with others for a vigil in the aftermath of the deadly shooting

Crowds gathered at the intersection of Murray Avenue and Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh for a vigil that was held at Sixth Presbyterian Church

More than 3,000 people from the Pittsburgh community gathered for the candlelight vigil on Saturday night

People sang and held candles during the gathering at Murray and Forbes avenues in Pittsburgh

Braddock, Pennsylvania Mayor John Fetterman hugs a person as they gather for the vigil on Saturday

He was enraged by HIAS, the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society which helps Jewish migrants settle in the US, which he accused of bringing ‘invaders in that kill our people’.

Two days ago, he said there was no ‘MAGA as long as there is a k*** [ethnic slur for a Jewish person] infestation’.

A photograph at the top of Bowers’ profile showed a machine with the numbers 1488 – a prolific white supremacist symbol – on it.

He also previously wrote that he had never voted for Donald Trump, ‘nor have I owned, worn or even touched a maga hat’.

Bowers also said Trump is ‘a puppet for Jewish interests’.

He recently posted a photo of a collection of three black semi-automatic handguns he titled ‘my glock family,’ a reference to the Austrian firearms manufacturer.

He also posted photos of bullet holes in person-sized targets at a firing range, touting the ‘amazing trigger’ on his weapon.

After killing people on the main floor, the shooter went downstairs, where the New Light congregation was gathering in the basement, and opened fire there.

Dor Hadash, a third, smaller group, was gathered in the rabbi’s study to the side of the Tree of Life’s congregation.

The first cops on the scene exchanged fire with him and two were shot.

Two SWAT team members were then shot during a gun battle with Bowers as the suspect tried to fight them off from the third floor.

After being injured himself in the crossfire, Bowers surrendered to police. None of the people killed have been named but police confirmed they were all adults.

Local officials described the scene as ‘horrific’ and cried as they gave an update on the shooting on Saturday afternoon.

The FBI special agent in charge who is investigating the shooting described it as the worst crime scene he had encountered in 22 years of service.

The vigil was held just as the Jewish Sabbath was ending and observant Jews were first learning of the massacre at the synagogue

The vigil was organized by students from nearby Allderdice High School, a public high school in Squirrel Hill

The mayor of Pittsburgh said that the names of the deceased will be released on Sunday morning

Amy Gilligan hugs her daughter at the intersection of Murray Ave. and Forbes Ave in Pittsburgh on Saturday

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the federal government would seek the death penalty and file hate crimes charges against the alleged gunman

President Donald Trump condemned the shooting as an ‘evil anti-Semitic attack’

Matthew Chinman, 49, of Squirrel Hill, hugs a fellow community member during the vigil on Saturday night

A young boy holds up a sign that reads ‘Hate and violence are not the answer’ at the vigil in Pittsburgh

Trump said lawmakers ‘should very much bring the death penalty into vogue’ and people who kill in places such as synagogues and churches ‘really should suffer the ultimate price’

President Trump said he plans to visit Pittsburgh in the near future. A crowd is seen gathering at an intersection for the vigil on Saturday night

A large interfaith memorial service was held at the Sixth Presbyterian Church in Squirrel Hill on Saturday

After tweeting that the situation was ‘devastating’, President Trump said on Saturday that it would not have happened if the synagogue had had its own security.

He called for the shooter to be sentenced to death and spoke about making capital punishment ‘in vogue’.

He took a stronger tone in a later speech where he described it as a ‘twisted act of malice’.

Later on Saturday, Trump held a rally in Illinois, where he addressed the shooting.

‘This evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us,’ the president said. ‘It’s an assault on humanity.

‘We must draw a line in the sand…and say never again,’ Trump said.

The president also tweeted on Saturday: ‘All of America is in mourning over the mass murder of Jewish Americans at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

‘We pray for those who perished and their loved ones, and our hearts go out to the brave police officers who sustained serious injuries.

‘This evil Anti-Semitic attack is an assault on humanity.

‘It will take all of us working together to extract the poison of Anti-Semitism from our world.

‘We must unite to conquer hate.’

Bowers started his killing in the main chapel where the Tree of Life congregants were gathered.

He shot randomly, according to survivors, then made his way down to the basement where one of the other two groups was.

After killing between those two floors, he made his way to the third floor.

By then, SWAT teams had arrived at the scene. Bowers was injured in the battle and surrendered to police by crawling to them. He was taken to the hospital.

Speaking afterwards, Wendell Hissnich, Pittsburgh Director of Public Safety, fought back tears as he described the scene inside.

‘It’s a very horrific crime scene. It’s one of the worst that I have seen and I have been on plane crashes. It is very bad,’ he said.

People hug outside the synagogue on Saturday morning after the shooting

Police and EMTs are pictured outside the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, on Saturday after an antisemitic gunman opened fire, murdering at least eight people and injuring many others

Armed police are pictured entering the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, on Saturday after a shooting which claimed at least eight lives

SWAT teams are pictured at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, on Saturday after a shooter opened fire

The scene at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, on Saturday

This is the view inside the synagogue on an ordinary day. It is unknown how many people were inside when the gunman opened fire but it was busier than usual, with worshipers observing the Sabbath. Some were also there to attend a ceremony either for a bris, an infant’s circumcision, or a baby naming ceremony

One woman, whose daughter was inside at the time, told CNN: ‘They heard the shots and they all, her friend’s mom and dad and son, they just all ran downstairs I guess and barricaded themselves in the basement.

It’s a very horrific crime scene… it’s one of the worst that I have seen and I have been on plane crashes. It is very bad

Wendell Hissnich, Pittsburgh Director of Public Safety

‘They kept hearing gunfire and everything else.’

Another man rushed to the scene to try to get his elderly father-in-law to safety.

He told reporters: ‘My father-in-law was inside, I got married in this place, this is crazy.

‘This is unbelievable. People have to stop the hate. They have to stop.’

President Trump spoke about the atrocity as he boarded Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews.

He asked why the synagogue did not have its own security and suggested that fewer would have died had an armed guard been stationed there.

GUNMAN’S ANTISEMITIC SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

An hour before the shooting, Bowers posted this on the social network Gab

The 46-year-old man suspected of shooting at least eight people dead at a synagogue in Pittsburgh is an anti-Trump white supremacist who spewed his anti-Semitic views online.

Robert Bowers has a profile on the social media network Gab, which he joined in January 2018.

The bio section of his profile, which has since been deleted, reads: ‘jews are the children of satan. (john 8:44) — —- the lord jesus christ is come in the flesh.

Among his antisemitic comments on the social network Gab are complaints about President Trump

On Saturday morning, seemingly just moments before the shooting, he posted: ‘HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.’

HAIS is a Jewish organization which works with refugees and was founded in 1881, originally to assist Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Within the last two days he reposted an article from HAIS’ website about National Refugee Shabbat last week, described as ‘a moment for congregations, organizations, and individuals around the country to create a Shabbat experience dedicated to refugees’.

He initially wrote alongside the article 17 days ago: ‘Why hello there HIAS! You like to bring in hostile invaders to dwell among us? We appreciate the list of friends you have provided.’

He then provided a link, however the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Pittsburgh is not on that list.

A spokesman at HAIS said the organization is still learning about the situation and does not yet have a comment.

A photograph at the top of Bowers’ profile showed a machine with the numbers 1488 on it. 1488 is a white supremacist symbol.

Bowers wrote on social media that he did not vote for Donald Trump and ‘nor have I owned, worn or even touched a maga hat’.

He also wrote: ‘Trump is a globalist, not a nationalist.

‘There is no #MAGA as long as there is a k*** [ethnic slur for a Jewish person] infestation. #Qanon is here to get patriot that were against martial in the 90’s to be the ones begging for it now to drain muh swamp.

‘But go ahead and keep saying you are #Winning.’

As news of the shooting spread, Gab – which is beloved by users for its commitment not to censor them – separated itself from him.

In a statement, the company said it had reported his profile to the FBI and deactivated it.

‘Shortly after the attack, Gab was alerted to a user profile of the alleged Tree of Life Synagogue shooter.

‘The account was verified and matched the name of the alleged shooter’s name, which was mentioned on police scanners.

‘This person also had accounts on other social networks.

‘Gab took swift and proactive action to contact law enforcement immediately. We first backed up all user data from the account and then proceeded to suspend the account.

‘We then contacted the FBI and made them aware of this account and the user data in our possession.

‘We are ready and willing to work with law enforcement to see to it that justice is served.’

In a tweet, it hit back at the idea that its free-speech stance was in any way to blame for the shooting, writing: ‘Words are not bullets.

‘We will do everything in our power to work with law enforcement to see that justice is served.’

HIAS released a statement on Saturday afternoon to say it was devastated by the events of the day.

‘There are no words to express how devastated we are by the events in Pittsburgh this morning. This loss is our loss, and our thoughts are with Tree of Life Congregation, our local partner Jewish Family and Community Services (JFCS) of Pittsburgh, the city of Pittsburgh and all those affected by this senseless act of violence.

‘As we try to process this horrifying tragedy, we pray that the American Jewish community and the country can find healing,’ they said.

‘If there was an armed guard inside the temple that would have been able to stop him, maybe there would have been nobody killed except from him.

‘We can look at it two ways. But if they had somebody to protect people… isn’t it a shame that we even have to speak that way?

‘That we even have to think that way inside a temple… but certainly the results should have been better,’ he said.

Asked if he thinks every place of worship should have armed security, Trump replied: ‘I hate to think of it that way.

‘It’s certainly an option. This world, this is a world with a lot of problems and it has been for many years, many many years, and you could say for many centuries but certainly you want protection and they didn’t have protection.

‘They had a maniac walk in and the didn’t have any protection and it’s so sad to see. So sad to see.

‘It’s a very difficult thing for me to stand as president and watch.

‘Before I ran for office, I watched instances like this and I’d say, “what a shame, what a shame.” It’s tougher when you’re the president of the United States and you have to watch this kind of thing happen. It’s so sad to see.’

Former rabbi Chuck Diamond (left) said on Saturday that he always feared there would be a shooting at the synagogue when he worked there. The synagogue’s former president Michael Eisenberg (right) said he was working on ways to make it easier to escape so that people could flee in the event of a shooting

Police rapid response team members at the scene of the shooting on Saturday. Some were engaged in a gun fight with the shooter before he was taken into custody

Squirrel Hill residents return to their home arm in arm after going to the synagogue to see what had happened after the shooting on Saturday morning

An armed police officer at the scene of the shooting on Saturday after the suspect had been taken into custody

Wendell Hissnich, Pittsburgh Director of Public Safety, (left) fought back tears as he described the ‘horrific’ crime scene which he said was worse than some plane crashes he had investigated. Right, Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh went to the scene to condemn the violence

TRUMP CALLS SHOOTING ‘A SHAME’, SAYS SYNAGOGUE SHOULD HAVE HAD SECURITY GUARD AND CALLS FOR QUICK DEATH PENALTY FOR SHOOTER THEN RAMPS UP HIS CRITICISM OF ‘ACT OF TWISTED MALICE AND EVIL’

President Trump abhorred the shooting as he spoke before the FFA on Saturday

President Trump described the shooting as a ‘shame’ on Saturday as he boarded Air Force One to fly to Indiana and called for the shooter to face the death penalty quickly, without being bogged down by legal delays.

After tweeting that the devastation was worse than had been reported, Trump suggested that the shooting could have been prevented if the Tree of Life Congregation had hired its own security.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, he said: ‘If there was an armed guard inside the temple that would have been able to stop him, maybe there would have been nobody killed except from him.

‘We can look at it two ways. But if they had somebody to protect people… isn’t it a shame that we even have to speak that way? ‘That we even have to think that way inside a temple… but certainly the results should have been better,’ he said.

Asked if he thinks every place of worship should have armed security, Trump replied: ‘I hate to think of it that way.

‘It’s certainly an option. This world, this is a world with a lot of problems and it has been for many years, many many years, and you could say for many centuries but certainly you want protection and they didn’t have protection.

‘They had a maniac walk in and the didn’t have any protection and it’s so sad to see. So sad to see.

‘It’s a very difficult thing for me to stand as president and watch. Before I ran for office, I watched instances like this and I’d say, “what a shame, what a shame.” It’s tougher when you’re the president of the United States and you have to watch this kind of thing happen. It’s so sad to see.’

He said gun laws had ‘little to do with it’ when questioned.

He called for swift action for the shooter and all mass shooters who he said should be given the death penalty soon after the events.

‘You look at the violence all over the world. It comes back in the form of a mad man, a wacko. We should stiffen up our laws in terms of the death penalty, they shouldn’t have to wait years and years.

‘I think they should stiffen up laws and bring the death penalty in to vogue,’ he said.

By the time he had arrived in Indianapolis to give his speech to the Future Farmers of America, his rhetoric had become more stern.

He abhorred what he called the ‘twisted malice’ and ‘wicked’ and ‘evil’ shooting, calling for all Americans to unite against antisemitism and not tolerate prejudice of any kind.

‘This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe and frankly something that is unimaginable. Our nation and the world are shocked and stunned by the grief. This was an antisemitic act. you wouldn’t think this would be possible in this day and age but we just don’t seem to learn from the past.

‘Our minds cannot comprehend the cruel hate and the twisted malice that could cause a person to unleash such terrible violence during a baby naming ceremony. This was a baby naming ceremony at a sacred house of worship on the holy day of Sabbath.

‘Antisemitism and the widespread persecution of Jews represents one of the ugliest and darkest human features of human history the vile hatred and poison of antisemitism must be condemned anywhere and everywhere it appears there must be no tolerance of antisemitism in America or for any form of religious hatred or prejudice,’ he said.

He praised the ‘outstanding’ law enforcement and said the gunman was able to get access when he shouldn’t have been because of the lack of security.

‘You look at the violence all over the world. It comes back in the form of a mad man, a wacko. We should stiffen up our laws in terms of the death penalty, they shouldn’t have to wait years and years.

‘I think they should stiffen up laws and bring the death penalty in to vogue,’ he said.

Vice President Mike Pence later said: ‘What happened in Pittsburgh today was not just criminal, it was evil.

‘An attack on innocent Americans and an assault on our freedom of religion.

‘There is no place in America for violence or antisemitism and this evil must end.’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also released a statement, saying: ‘Today’s tragic shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh was a cowardly act, driven by hate.

‘The Senate stands with all Americans to condemn the evil of bigotry in all its forms.’

‘As the Pittsburgh community mourns, our prayers are with the victims and their families, and our sincere gratitude is with the first responders who work to project and save lives every day.’

Former President Barack Obama tweeted on Saturday: ‘We grieve for the Americans murdered in Pittsburgh.

‘All of us have to fight the rise of anti-Semitism and hateful rhetoric against those who look, love, or pray differently.

Former President Barack Obama tweeted on Saturday: ‘We grieve for the Americans murdered in Pittsburgh’

‘And we have to stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their hands on a gun.’

There was no security at the Tree of Life on Saturday, with former synagogue leaders describing how it operates an open-door policy for worshipers and only puts security on for significant holy days despite fears among community leaders that such a shooting was on the horizon.

‘On a day today the door is open you can walk in an out. Like most religious institutions, we have an open door,’ the synagogue’s former president, Michael Eisenberg, told CBS Pittsburgh.

He added that security had been a ‘major’ concern for him in the past and that he was working with the government to improve escape routes and emergency procedures.

‘It was a major concern for me, for us.

‘We were working with the DHS to evaluate exit routes, I just spoke to our maintenance person who was able to get out.

The synagogue is located in Squirrel Hill which is also home to Carnegie Mellon University and Chatham University. It is a hub for the Jewish community in Pittsburgh

The scene remained taped off on Saturday as the investigation into the shooting continued

ANTI-GUN RABBI WHO SURVIVED MASSACRE WROTE ABOUT ENDING VIOLENCE IN BLOG POST THREE MONTHS BEFORE SHOOTER OPENED FIRE ON HIS SERVICE

Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, who was likely leading the Sabbath service, is pictured after escaping from the gunman on Saturday morning

The rabbi who was likely leading the Sabbath service at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday when a gunman opened fire wrote at length about gun violence and his desire for it to end three months ago.

In a blog post in July, Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers wrote a blog post for the synagogue’s website titled ‘We Deserve Better’.

He said, in part: ‘Despite continuous calls for sensible gun control and mental health care, our elected leaders in Washington knew that it would fade away in time.

‘Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the mid-term elections, I fear that that the status quo will remain unchanged, and school shootings will resume.

‘I shouldn’t have to include in my daily morning prayers that God should watch over my wife and daughter, both teachers, and keep them safe.

‘Where are our leaders?’

He also wrote about immigration – a trigger subject for the shooter who regularly complained about it on social media.

‘Immigration advocates were wise in bringing the separation of parents and children to the courts, because we have seen legal decisions pushing our leaders to respond in a timely manner. What happens to the children whose parents were deported?

‘There must be a better system, and I would have hoped that bright minds in Washington, D.C., could sit down and work out a solution that takes into account all of the concerns that have been raised. Alas, inaction once again,’ he wrote.

Rabbi Myers survived Saturday’s attack and was pictured walking out of the synagogue clutching his head in bewilderment and trauma.

It remains unclear if any one specific person was targeted or if it was a general attack on Judaism by antisemitic gunman Robert Bowers.

‘We were working with the other synagogues on what to do if this happened,’ he said.

He said of the building’s maintenance man, who witnessed Saturday’s shooting and escaped through one of the exit doors,: ‘He was shaken, he saw one of our congregants down, he knew, he was in the bathroom and he was able to get out of the building.’

A former rabbi said he was grateful that many of the congregants often arrived late for morning services and that he was grateful on this occasion.

‘I thought about it all the time I have to tell you when I was there I always had the thought in the back of my had unfortunately in the world we live in,’ the former rabbi said.

The area was put on lock down, with any residents living nearby told to lock their doors and not go outside. Witnesses are still being interviewed by police at the scene.

The shooting happened at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, on Saturday morning (file image

BREAKING DOWN ‘FANG Stocks’

FANG represents the most popular and best performing tech stocks in the market that have generated spectacular returns for their investors. The four stocks — Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet — all trade on the NASDAQ, which measures the performance of more than 3,000 tech and growth stocks that are considered a reflection of the economy and capital market.

The S&P 500, which is based on the market capitalization of the 500 largest stocks listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ including FANG stocks, is considered the best representation of the U.S. market. As of August 10, 2017 — while the NASDAQ 100 was up 19 percent and the S&P 500 was up 8.9 percent year-to-date (YTD) — FANGs were up more than 2x that of the latter. Year-to-date, Facebook (FB) was up 45 percent, Amazon (AMZN) 27 percent, Netflix (NFLX) 36 percent and Alphabet’s Google (GOOG) 16 percent, beating the returns of both indices.

Within the S&P 500 index, FB, AMZN, NFLX and GOOG are ranked 4th, 3rd, 67th, and 9th (and 10th), respectively. (The reason that Alphabet’s Google has two positions is because the company has two class of shares currently trading on the public markets — GOOG and GOOGL — the difference being that GOOG has no voting rights and GOOGL does.) Because of their high ranking, FANG stocks have a greater impact on the value of the index than other companies. In effect, when they move up (or down), the overall market tends to also move up (or down), given that the S&P 500 index characterizes the market.

Each of the FANG stocks are big cap stocks that focus on technology and internet services. They are also considered growth stocks due to the continued emergence of technological devices like cloud storage devices, big data, social media and e-commerce tools. Financial reporting from the quarterly 13-F filing, which is required of all investment managers with over $100 million in assets, revealed that the most prominent hedge fund managers have FANGs in their portfolios. The stocks were included as growth and momentum stocks by reputable funds like Berkshire, Soros, Renaissance and Citadel in the first quarter of 2017.

In the five-day trading week of July 24 to 28, 2017, three out of the four FANG stocks traded at their highest prices ever. Facebook reached a high of $175.49, Amazon peaked at $1,083.31, Netflix recorded an all-time high of $191.50, and Google rose as high as $988.31.

A FANG Stock Bubble?

Although FANGs have consistently delivered positive returns, some analysts believe that these tech stocks are a mirror image of the tech stocks that delivered similar momentum prior to the dotcom crash. Because investors have priced high levels of growth into each of the stock valuations, this expected growth may be unsustainable. In June 2017, analysts in firms such as Goldman Sachs and UBS stated that the high valuations and unusual low volatility attached to these stocks are similar to tech stocks which crashed after the tech bubble burst in 2000.

Despite FANGs being compared to dotcom stocks of the late 1990s, most analysts agree that the upward momentum of these growth stocks is sustainable as long as there are more technological advancements to be made, especially in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. While investors can diversify their value portfolio with these growth stocks, they should also be diligent in reading and understanding the fundamentals and metrics behind FANG stocks’ growing force.

When Stocks Fell 10%…

As of the market’s close yesterday the S&P 500 was down 9.4%. Not quite a 10% correction but it’s a stone’s throw away.The question all investors would like to know is how much further this downturn has to go.The answer is I don’t know and neither does anyone else.But we can look back historically to see how many corrections turned into bear markets or crashes to get a better sense of the potential range of outcomes.Going back to 1928…When stocks fell 10%:

44.7% of the time they didn’t fall any further than 15%

12.8% of the time they didn’t fall any further than 20%

17.0% of the time they fell between 20% and 30%

10.6% of the time they fell between 30% and 40%

8.5% of the time they fell between 40% and 50%

6.4% of the time they fell more than 50%

When stocks fell 15%:

23.1% of the time they didn’t fall any further than 20%

30.8% of the time they fell between 20% and 30%

19.2% of the time they fell between 30% and 40%

15.4% of the time they fell between 40% and 50%

11.5% of the time they fell more than 50%

When stocks fell 20%:

40.0% of the time they didn’t fall any further than 30%

25.0% of the time they fell between 30% and 40%

20.0% of the time they fell between 40% and 50%

15.0% of the time they fell more than 50%

When stocks fell 30%:

41.7% of the time they didn’t fall any further than 40%

33.3% of the time they fell between 40% and 50%

25.0% of the time they fell more than 50%

When stocks fell 40%:

57.1% of the time they didn’t fall any further than 50%

42.9% of the time they fell more than 50%

When stocks fell 50%:

66.7% of the time they didn’t fall any further than 60%

33.3% of the time they fell more than 60%

Here’s a chart showing the frequency of drawdowns by the different levels:

So roughly 60% of the time a 10% correction didn’t lead to a bear market while roughly 40% of the time it did. The further down you go on the loss spectrum the smaller the sample size but this gives you a good idea of how things have looked historically in terms of the loss profile of the stock market once they have already begun their descent.

The average correction which saw stocks drop 10% but not enter bear market territory1 was a drawdown of -14%, lasting 132 days from peak-to-trough. Bear markets in this time frame experienced a drawdown of -37% over 358 days, on average.2

Historical information like this can help put things into perspective but historical data is rarely enough to help people sleep at night or change their behavior. Market averages tell a story but no one’s experience in the markets is ever average in the moment.

The past is easy because we know what happened but the future is messy since the uncertainty of the potential outcomes cannot be reduced.

Most of the time the stock market has a run-of-the-mill correction that doesn’t turn into a bear market but a bear market is always a possibility. And every time stocks begin to fall there’s a little voice in the back of our heads that tell us, “Maybe this is the big one…”

Intelligent investors bake these scenarios into their investment plan and prepare for them in advance. No matter the path stocks take from here, if you don’t have a plan in place about how to react no matter the outcome, now would be a good time to formulate one.

Stocks closed lower on Monday, giving up sharp gains from earlier in the day in a wild session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average travel more than 900 points. The S&P 500 closed in correction territory, down 10 percent from its recent high.

Traders blamed the possibility of more U.S.-China tariffs coupled with a drop in tech shares for the decline.

The Dow fell 245.39 points to 24,442.92, erasing a 352-point gain, as Boeing dropped 6.6 percent. At the lows of the day, the Dow was down 566 points before coming back shortly before the close. The 30-stock index also briefly dipped into correction territory.

The S&P 500 closed 0.7 percent lower at 2,641.25 after gaining more than 1 percent earlier in the day. The benchmark is now down 10.2 percent from its high reached at the end of September. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6 percent to 7,050.29 as shares of Amazon got pounded.

“I think this is an old-fashion tech wreck,” said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners. “Investors are reassessing growth prospects for next year … in the context of the IBM-Red Hat deal and the prospects of more tariffs.”

Bloomberg News reported that the U.S. is planning on slapping tariffs on more Chinese products if upcoming talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping falter. Both countries have already implemented levies on billions of dollars worth of each other’s goods.

Monday’s moves come after a 3 percent drop on the Dow last week, which was capped off by a decline of nearly 300 points on Friday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped 3.9 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.

Worries over a possible slowdown in corporate earnings growth, as well as in the global economy, have sent the major indexes down sharply this month. The Dow and S&P 500 are down 7.7 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively, for October. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, has lost 12 percent.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

“It’s likely we see some lows get retested once again, once again we can’t assume a v-bounce as many were calling for back in early October,” said Andrew Thrasher, portfolio manager for The Financial Enhancement Group and founder of Thrasher Analytics, said in a note.

“Typically, v-bottoms show themselves when the market declines on news, as in a single event that rocks the market but that wasn’t the case this time,” Thrasher said. “Instead we saw a slow bleed in market participation that finally broke the dam of selling and sent stocks across the board lower.”

The S&P 500’s decline this month has shaved off $2.141 trillion in market cap, according to data from Howard Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones Indices. Silverblatt’s data also show Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia, Facebook and Apple are among the biggest contributors to the decline this month. Facebook and Apple will both report financial results later this week.

“The market will not reward earnings unless you’ve got growth in the top line, bottom line and guidance. It can be brutal for companies that don’t hit all those marks,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “There are questions remaining on whether this market can really regain strength if tech doesn’t lead.”

U.S. stocks got a boost earlier on Monday after IBM agreed to buy Red Hat, an open-source software distributor, for around $34 billion. Red Hat shares surged 45.4 percent on the deal, while IBM’s stock fell more than 4 percent.

“While it will take some time to see the merits of this deal manifest and the impact on enterprise hybrid cloud competitive deployments in the field … we believe the combination of Red Hat and its Linux cloud platform with IBM could represent a formidable cloud behemoth for the coming years,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, in a note to clients.